06Aug 2015 
The majority of home owners rely on individual retrofitting measures, improving energy performance step by step rather than all in one go. According to the latest funding statistics, replacing old boilers was the most popular measure in 2014, followed by putting in new windows.
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Claudia Fried, head of communications at Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), and Michael Müller-Görnert, in charge of transport policy at the Transport Club of Germany (VCD), discuss the question.
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A combination of photovoltaics and battery storage improves the extent to which homes can supply their own electricity. Many people believe that this combination puts more strain on the grid, but the results of a research project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy show otherwise.
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Many consumers want to know how energy-efficient a certain product is before they buy it. The European Commission now wants to return to using the “A-G” scale to improve transparency.
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The Cape Verde Islands, an archipelago located 450 km off the coast of West Africa, have set themselves ambitious energy targets. A pilot project is to support German energy companies that offer solutions for the islands that enable them to gain access to the market.
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France has approved a rapid turnaround on energy policy and has presented ambitious targets for an energy transition made in France. See also: an innovative project on solar air conditioning for buildings.
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"My message to investors, businesses and industry: invest in clean energy; it’s here to stay and will continue to grow."
Miguel Arias Cañete, EU Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action
The White Paper "An electricity market for the energy transition" published at the beginning of July 2015 is now available in English. In it the Ministry clearly advocates a further development of the electricity market to become an electricity market 2.0, and argues against the introduction of a capacity market.
Despite the fact that many of the goals of the energy transition have already been achieved, the energy transition remains a complex project. This publication is intended to give you an overview of where we stand in the energy transition and what the next key steps will be.
In order to bring technology for converting electricity to gas to the market, adjustments have to be made in five regulatory areas. These are explained on dena’s updated Power to Gas Strategy Platform and illustrated with graphs. The website also offers background information, news and films on Power to Gas.
The brochure "Who is Who of the Energiewende in Germany" published by the Foreign Office in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy lists the most important players in Germany’s energy transition, including their tasks, functions and fields of activity. The brochure is available online in German and English.
The European Commission has presented several communications on energy policy in its Summer Package on energy. Its communication on the future electricity market design is particularly important as it backs the proposals to develop the German electricity market into an electricity market 2.0 recently described in the White Paper.
Order the international edition of the "Energiewende direkt" Newsletter here.
The newsletter "Energiewende direkt" is taking a short summer break and will be back in early September 2015.
